Reuse of treated municipal wastewater in drylands: Multi-sector optimization analysis for middle Rio Grande case study

IF 3.8 3区经济学 Q3 ENERGY & FUELS

Utilities Policy Pub Date : 2025-04-26 DOI:10.1016/j.jup.2025.101941

Oluwatosin A. Olofinsao, Jingjing Wang, Robert P. Berrens

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Abstract

Growing populations and water demands in drylands, exacerbated by climate change, strain freshwater resources. This study constructs a regional, multi-sector optimization model to explore the economic effects of alternatives for reusing treated municipal wastewater (TMW) in drylands. Focusing on the Middle Rio Grande Basin in the southwestern state of New Mexico, USA, this investigation innovatively considers agriculture as a nutrient sink. The analysis develops a theoretical optimization model for TMW reuse across three sectors simultaneously: agricultural (commercial farming); urban (greenspace provision); and environmental (river instream flow provision). A constrained optimization is used to calculate the value of water in the commercial crop farming sector, and the benefit transfer approach is used to obtain water values in the urban and environmental sectors. Results indicate that water is valued roughly comparably in urban greenspace ($205.26 per acre-foot) and environmental ($220.39 per acre-foot) sectors, and while agriculture acts as a nutrient sink it still realizes a much lower water value ($28.30 per acre-foot). Therefore, it is recommended that policymakers and the municipal authority prioritize the allocation of TMW for environmental flow and urban greenspace. Understanding water's economic value across alternative uses is crucial information for water policy and governance in water-scarce regions.

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干旱区处理后城市污水的回用：以2010年中期为例的多部门优化分析

干旱地区不断增长的人口和用水需求，再加上气候变化，使淡水资源紧张。本研究构建了一个区域、多部门的优化模型，探讨干旱地区城市污水回用方案的经济效果。本研究以美国新墨西哥州西南部的中部大盆地为研究对象，创新性地将农业视为营养汇。该分析建立了一个同时跨三个部门的TMW再利用的理论优化模型：农业（商业农业）；市区（提供绿地）；和环境（河流流量供应）。采用约束优化方法计算经济作物种植部门的水价值，采用利益转移法计算城市和环境部门的水价值。结果表明，水在城市绿地（每英亩英尺205.26美元）和环境（每英亩英尺220.39美元）部门的价值大致相当，而农业作为营养汇，它仍然实现了低得多的水价值（每英亩英尺28.30美元）。因此，建议政策制定者和市政当局优先考虑将TMW分配给环境流量和城市绿地。了解不同用途的水的经济价值对缺水地区的水政策和治理至关重要。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Utilities Policy ENERGY & FUELS-ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

CiteScore

6.80

自引率

10.00%

发文量

审稿时长

66 days

期刊介绍： Utilities Policy is deliberately international, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral. Articles address utility trends and issues in both developed and developing economies. Authors and reviewers come from various disciplines, including economics, political science, sociology, law, finance, accounting, management, and engineering. Areas of focus include the utility and network industries providing essential electricity, natural gas, water and wastewater, solid waste, communications, broadband, postal, and public transportation services. Utilities Policy invites submissions that apply various quantitative and qualitative methods. Contributions are welcome from both established and emerging scholars as well as accomplished practitioners. Interdisciplinary, comparative, and applied works are encouraged. Submissions to the journal should have a clear focus on governance, performance, and/or analysis of public utilities with an aim toward informing the policymaking process and providing recommendations as appropriate. Relevant topics and issues include but are not limited to industry structures and ownership, market design and dynamics, economic development, resource planning, system modeling, accounting and finance, infrastructure investment, supply and demand efficiency, strategic management and productivity, network operations and integration, supply chains, adaptation and flexibility, service-quality standards, benchmarking and metrics, benefit-cost analysis, behavior and incentives, pricing and demand response, economic and environmental regulation, regulatory performance and impact, restructuring and deregulation, and policy institutions.